Recently the New York Times reported the following:
Why Don’t Data Centers Use More Green Energy? (2/2)
Reliance on fossil fuels is almost unavoidable — at least
for now.
The New York Times - By Evan Gorelick
Sept. 27, 2025, 8:00 a.m. ET
(continue)
Nuclear
That’s where nuclear plants come in. They have smaller
footprints, generate steady power and, like renewables, emit no carbon.
But they’re expensive. That’s why the nuclear industry has been in a decades-long rut. It boomed back in the 1970s, when the global energy crisis quadrupled oil prices. But Americans’ enthusiasm for nuclear energy soured after a series of headline-grabbing accidents, like the 1979 partial meltdown at Three Mile Island.
Around the same time, our electricity needs started to decline — which tends to happen in mature economies. Oil prices came down, so we stopped building nuclear reactors.
The industry has been groping for a good sales pitch ever since. With A.I., it finally has one: Energy demand is soaring, and nuclear companies can help fill the gap.
A slight snag: They’ll need another seven or eight years to do it, best-case scenario, said Jacopo Buongiorno, a nuclear science professor at M.I.T. That’s how long it takes to build new nuclear plants.
So, it’s a gamble: Tech companies investing in nuclear power (Microsoft, Google and Amazon, among others) are betting billions that A.I. demand will continue to rise a decade from now, when those nuclear facilities open for business. But it’s not clear their bets will pan out.
Fossil Fuels
The U.S. has vast natural gas reserves in underground
reservoirs and offshore deposits, so it’s cheap and available. And the
infrastructure to harness it can be ready fast: “A year or two, and you have a
gas plant,” Buongiorno said.
If data centers continue expanding at their going rate, their energy needs will far surpass the current supply by 2030. So tech companies that need to bridge that widening gap are reaching for fossil fuels. Natural gas is already the top power source for U.S. data centers, according to the International Energy Agency, and it’s on track to dominate through at least 2030.
The only other energy source that can be deployed in one to two years — aligning with the construction timeline for most data centers — is solar, which has its own drawbacks.
His plan may work. It may also accelerate climate change by pumping heat-trapping gases into an atmosphere already at its highest-recorded temperature ever. For now, though, tech companies are seeing an opportunity to invest.
Translation
為何數據中心不更多地使用綠色能源？
(2/2)
對化石燃料的依賴幾乎不可避免 - 至少目前是如此
（繼續）
核能
這正是核電廠可派上用場。它們佔地面積小，發電穩定，而且像再生能源一樣，不會排放碳。
但它們價格昂貴。這就是為什麼核工業幾十年來一直處於低迷狀態。核工業在1970年代蓬勃發展，當時全球能源危機導致油價翻了兩番。但在一系列引人注目的事故（例如1979年三哩島核電廠部分熔毀）之後，美國人對核能的熱情逐漸消退。
大約在同一時期，我們的電力需求開始下降 - 這在成熟經濟體中往往是常有的事。油價下跌，所以我們停止了核反應爐的建造。
自那以後，核能產業一直在摸索一個好的賣點。在人工智能出現後它終於找到了：能源需求飆升，而核能公司可以幫助填補這一缺口。
有一个小小的障碍是：麻省理工学院核科学教授Jacopo Buongiorno表示，他們至少還需要七至八年才能實現這一目標，而這正是建造新核電站所需的時間。
所以，這是一場賭博：投資核能的科技公司（包括微軟、谷歌和亞馬遜）押注數十億美元，認為十年後，當這些核電站投入運營時，人工智慧的需求將持續增長。但目前尚不清楚他們的賭注是否會成功。
化石燃料
美國擁有豐富的地下和離岸天然氣儲量，因此價格低廉且易於取得。而且，利用天然氣的基礎設施可以快速建成：Buongiorno說: 「一兩年就能建好一座天然氣廠」。
如果數據中心繼續以目前的速度擴張，到2030年，其能源需求將遠遠超過目前的供應量。因此，需要彌補這一日益擴大的缺口的科技公司正在轉向化石燃料。根据国际能源署的数据，天然氣已經成為美國數據中心的主要電力來源，並且至少在2030年之前仍將保持主導地位。
唯一能够在一到两年内部署的能源 - 与大多数數據中心的建设时间表一致 - 是太阳能，但它也有自身的缺点。
特朗普的政策只會讓天然氣更具吸引力。政府已經在補貼化石燃料，現在取消了相關法規和綠色能源稅收抵免，以進一步支持化石燃料。特朗普總統表示，新政策將有助於美國公司開發人工智能工具，使其不受繁瑣的規則和監管的束縛。氣候倡議者表示，他正在為幫助化石燃料遊說團體鋪路。
他的計劃或許會奏效。它還可能透過向已達到歷史最高溫度的大氣中排放吸熱氣體令氣候變遷而加速。不過，目前科技公司看到了投資機會。
So, OpenAI, Amazon, Google, Meta
and Microsoft are together pushing to speed up the construction of A.I. data
centers. Theses companies want the latest processors, cooling systems,
facilities that demand huge amount of electricity. In the U.S., more than half
of that power is coming from fossil fuels. But fossil fuels may accelerate
climate change and that’s where nuclear plants come in. But the problem is that
they will need seven or eight years to build. Let’s wait and see how the
problem will be solved. Apparently, our environment is paying a price for the
development of A.I.
